Everything you’ve ever wanted to know: ACCESS for ELLs 2024-25

Are you new to ACCESS for ELLs? Have you administered an ACCESS test before but can’t remember where to find things like training, test prep and test materials?

Look no further than this brief reference to all things ACCESS! Pay special attention to the “A word from WIDA” sections for WIDA advice.

ACCESS member/state guidelines 

Head over to your member/state page (which is in the dropdown menu at the top of the main WIDA website) to find testing dates and information, instructions for setting up a WIDA Secure Portal or WIDA Assessment Management System (AMS) account and contact information for your state education agency.

A word from WIDA: Your state education agency determines which WIDA assessments you use and sets specific policies on how to use those assessments. Your member/state page is the go-to place for this information.

ACCESS training

Find ACCESS training courses in the WIDA Secure Portal. Once you’re in the portal, go to Assessment Training and use Filter By to narrow your search. Then, find your training course and select Learn More & Enroll. From there, you can enroll in the course and view and download related resources. Go to My Certifications to find your recent course certifications.

A word from WIDA: We updated some of the screencasts in the ACCESS Online and ACCESS Paper training courses to reflect new features in reporting and the Test Monitoring Application in WIDA AMS. Thanks to educator feedback, we added more Writing and Speaking scoring practice items to the Alternate ACCESS: Administration and Scoring training course.

ACCESS test preparation for students

Find test preparation resources for ACCESS Online and ACCESS Paper on the ACCESS Test Practice and Sample Items webpage. On the page, you’ll find things like sample items for ACCESS Online, ACCESS Paper and the ACCESS braille accommodation, as well as resources to help prepare students for testing with test demos and test practice items.

A word from WIDA: This fall, we published new sample items for the ACCESS Online Writing test for grades 4-12. The refreshed items better reflect current Writing task structures and expectations. Find online sample items on the WIDA AMS login page under Public Test Resources or in the DRC INSIGHT application.

ACCESS family engagement info

Find resources that help explain things like ELL status and language testing on the Family Engagement webpage. Download and print these family-friendly documents and share them with the people who support your multilingual students.

A word from WIDA: This fall, we released a revised WIDA Alternate ACCESS: Understanding Your Child’s Scores flyer. The flyer is available in 17 languages and helps families understand what scores mean and how they are used. Share the flyer with families, along with the appropriate Alternate ACCESS score report. For this year only: The flyer has a second page that explains what is different about this year’s score report.

ACCESS help

For general ACCESS questions, you’ll want to contact the WIDA Client Services Center. Our fabulous team of experts (many of whom are former teachers) are available to take your call or email about ACCESS. Head over to the Contact Us webpage to get in touch with a WIDA expert.

For questions about the WIDA AMS (the web-based interface used to manage ACCESS student and test registration information) or things like materials ordering and ACCESS Online technical issues, you’ll want to contact Data Recognition Corporation (DRC). Head over to the Contact Us webpage to find contact information for DRC.

A word from WIDA: Want to tackle your question on your own? You can! There is most likely a WIDA Assessment Webinar on a topic that answers your question. Go to the Webinars page in the WIDA Secure Portal for a list of upcoming and recorded webinars. We’ve got webinars on everything from managing students in WIDA AMS to interpreting score reports.

A bonus word from WIDA: Help us make our assessments the best they can be by signing up to participate in an ACCESS event! We value the fresh eyes, unique perspectives and range of experiences that you and your colleagues bring to test items, and we revise test items based on this feedback. If you would like to contribute to WIDA test development work, browse our Building a WIDA Assessment page to learn more and apply.